everybody’s cool but me - johan
the pull of you - the national
light years - the national
hard feelings/loveless - lorde
supercut - lorde
sad beautiful tragic - taylor swift
i almost do - taylor swift
water under the bridge - adele
nashville - david mead
august (acoustic) - flipturn
new york - st. vincent
meet me in the hallway - harry styles
miracle - chvrches
wonderful unknown - ingrid michaelson ft greg laswell
winterbreak - muna
dreams - fleetwood mac
juice - lizzo
back to you - selena gomez
nightmare - halsey
without me - halsey
hurricane - halsey
me! - taylor swift ft. brendon urie
don’t hurt yourself - beyonce ft. jack white
rylan - the national
love it if we made it - the 1975
hide and seek - imogen heap
number one fan - muna
wait for me -obc of hadestown
colors - halsey
you need to calm down - taylor swift
This week, my playlist is filled with a variety of sad, tragic break-up songs alongside feel good, self-love anthems, and a few things in between (pun not intended). It’s a mix of over the top pop, to harsh rock beats, to acoustic cut throat strings. Admittedly, it’s not the best to start your summer out sad, but I’m lucky to have found these songs to help me through the wild emotions of longing I’ve been having. While I would love to go in depth about every song on this list, I will point out a few must-listens and my favorite lyrics from them:
- number one fan - muna
So I heard the bad news / Nobody likes me and I’m gonna die alone / In my bedroom / Looking at strangers on my telephone”
This fresh new single is the lead off of MUNA’s sophomore album, Saves the World. While this bop starts off negatively and harsh, the song is really about the negative voices in your head and how to shout back at them. Continuing with the ’80s pop theme, this song is truly so iconic, like big, like stan.
- the pull of you - the national
From The National’s eighth studio album, I Am Easy To Find, The Pull of You is a song about losing someone you care about while still feeling their presence within you and wishing to see them again. It’s an intense feeling, and something I can really relate to currently, which is why this song is a top pick from my playlist. My favorite part of the song is a speaking interlude portion, and personally, I feel like this really encompasses the confusing mood of the playlist:
It’s just that I’m still here and there’s still everything you don’t know
Oh, how often I dream about you
You don’t know how I need you
You got me all wrong
If I said I was sorry for always being underwater, would you stay?
You can take me
There’s no difference between you and me
Tell me what you would say if I said that to you
I get you, you’re not like anything. Do you hear me? Just be here
Don’t let me get in the way of you finding everything
What was it? The story you told me?
Why am I so hard to be around?
Here at the approach of the end of everything.
- colors - halsey
“You were red, and you liked me because I was blue / But you touched me, and suddenly I was a lilac sky / Then you decided purple just wasn’t for you”
Colors was the second single from Halsey’s first album, Badlands, released in 2015. The lyric I’ve chosen is quite a popular one among Tumblr users, which is where she originally posted these lyrics long before the album was ever actually released, leading listeners to believe she plagiarized her own lyrics. The song itself is about falling out of love with someone because of how much that person had changed. I love this song because of how deeply personal the lyrics are, and I love how Halsey plays with the meaning of different colors on this track, fitting with the title.
- juice - lizzo
“If I’m shining, everybody gonna shine / I was born like this, don’t even gotta try / I’m like chardonnay, get better over time / Heard you say I’m not the baddest, bitch, you lyin!”
I have to thank my friend Tricia for this one, because without her constantly saying, “Anyway, stream Lizzo,” I never would’ve given it a chance. However, this is a certifiable Bop, and definitely the feel good song of the summer. It oozes self-confidence and self-love right alongside feel good vibes in the under current of poppy, Prince-like instrumentals. When I’m feeling down, I definitely can turn this up in the car and yell along to these happy lyrics and feel so much better.
- you need to calm down - taylor swift
“You just need to take several seats and then try to restore the peace / And control your urges to scream about all the people you hate / ‘Cause shade never made anybody less gay”
Another absolute banger from Taylor Swift, acting as the second promotional single from her highly anticipated seventh album, titled Lover. Recently, Swift has become a liberal activist, focusing primarily on the Equality Act and overall rights for the LGBT community. While this single focuses on the generalized hate she receives, it also focuses on the unnecessary hate the LGBT community receives too. It’s a feel good, scream at the top of your lungs kind of song, and Swift gears back towards the synths she first experimented with on record-breaking pop album 1989. It’s a new direction for her, and I’m absolutely loving it.
Again, I wish I could talk about each and every one of these songs, but I feel like listening to them actually allows them to speak for themselves. These are the current moods I’m in, and the playlist is constantly changing, which is why I want to post an update weekly to track what songs are old and new and to introduce readers and listeners to the new additions. Happy listening!
In addition, this week’s project updates:
- words left unsaid in a room with the door left wide open (poetry)
- the multiverse (creative nonfiction)